Three months of planes, cars, buses, farms, villages, hostels, pastoral settings, bustling cities, inside jokes, and constant wearing of flannel have come to an end. Team Hongi is home. The last week of our odyssey found us in Port Douglas, a rather quaint vacation spot about 60 kilometers from Cairns, the coastal access point for the Great Barrier Reef. Our dive hub. After lugging around dive texts and spending an impressive number of hours submerged in a swimming pool, everyone made it out to the reef and completed their open water certification.
Prior to leaving for Port Douglas, the group shared a tearful 4am goodbye with Catherine, who left a few days early to attend orientation at USC (Good Luck Catherine!). What started as a group of 11 was, in the end, whittled down to a mere seven. We could all even fit into a single taxi! We returned to Cairns on the 6th and consumed a brain jarring quantity of energy drinks, to help aid in the effort of staying up all night to catch the airport taxi at 4am. Our last hours together officially as a group were spent sharing our admiration and respect for one another, as well as remembering aloud all of the funny and memorable moments from the past three months. At 4 the group said goodbye to Stefan and took off for a marathon travel journey back to LAX, and then on to their respective home states and cities and, finally, families and friends (ie you folks, the readers).
It was a glorious time, team ramrod, and i will miss you all. Best of luck in the future.
Stefan.
